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They can justify it however they want to all day long, but we've got enough real-world examples of verification to show that its core use isn't about protecting
by stego-tech 2y ago
They can justify it however they want to all day long, but we've got enough real-world examples of verification to show that its core use isn't about protecting users, but about authorizing acceptable speech on a platform and protecting advertisers.
Domain verification was genuinely all the verification needed. This checkmark system is just a copy-paste troublemaker from Twitter, and we all saw how well that turned out whenever a celebrity or billionaire's account got hacked to shill grifto schemes. Training users to only look for a symbol just desensitizes them to the complexities of identity and sanctioned speech.
- pessimizer 2y ago> Training users to only look for a symbol just desensitizes them to the complexities of identity and sanctioned speech. This is what their users are looking for. They don't want complexity, they want to know who they're supposed to listen to.
- stego-tech 2y agoI don't know why HN is down voting you; you're right. That said, your gray-status is exactly why I long since stopped pointing out that's what people want, and instead shifted my argument towards educating readers why that's bad. The dearth of informed electorates is a crisis plaguing humanity as a whole, and we sorely need to start shining a light on the practices that create this harm ("answer engines") rather than shaming users that engage with those traps alone.